run for re-election. i guess in a way that helps the democratic party keep the seat. remember he represents first congressional district portland areas north and "wall street" of the district. it's a very democratic district. a republican source tells me if wu is not running and baggage there, a lock for democrats to keep the seat. we'll keep our eyes on the story. randi, back to you. >> we'll keep an eye on you anned political ticker. "cnn newsroom" continues. >> hello to all of you, the debt ceiling deadline is one week away. we're tat that seven-day deadline. we're warned all financial hell will break loose until washington increases borrowing power. while there's plenty of partisan bickering in public, there's still no sign anyone is willing to compromise on a deal to increase credit limit. couple of things happening. first the white house. they are calling in troops.

veterans group there at pennsylvania avenue being briefed on what could happen to their ranks if the debt ceiling is not raised. also cnn is learning some states making contingency plans. california specifically taking out a temporary $5 billion loan just to help pay its bills in case congress fails to act and turmoil in the credit market makes it difficult to borrow money after august 2nd. take a walk with me. i want to look at what exactly is proposed here. we have two different plans, two different bills on the table. one from democratic leader, senate majority leader harry reid, speaker of the house boehner there. here we go. first up, as we mentioned before, look, they definitely have similarities. first of all, both of them would cut spending. also neither plan would raise taxes. but there is one really huge difference we need to highlight.

the reid plan would raise the debt ceiling beyond next year's presidential election, but the boehner plan here would raise the debt ceiling in two different steps setting up the possibility that we could be having this whole entire debt ceiling debate, this whole thing could be happening around election season. as it stands right now, it's highly unlikely the house would pass the reid plan or senate would pass the boehner plan. here we are essentially to quote the president last night at a stalemate before the deadline of august 2nd. that is the final day the white house says the united states will have enough money to pay all of his creditors. let me say this. we're talking money here. this is unchartered territory. no one knows for sure what exactly will happen if we all wake up the morning of august 3rd with no increase in the debt ceiling. economists warn interest rates are likely to jump. how will that affect you?

mortgage rates, affect you with an adjustable rate mortgage, an a.r.m., looking to buy a house, refinance, sell your house. higher mortgage rates would price some potential buyers just totally out of the market. here is another practical example, car loans. if you're in the market for a new car, car loan would most definitely cost you more. another example, credit cards. you're going to pay more to keep a balance on credit cards. one more here. one more example for you. you have one of these? stock and bond market could drop. retirement savings and mutual fund investments would take a hit. we've been talking to a lot of you. a lot concerned how a failure to raise the debt ceiling would affect your wallet. take a look. >> concerned, for sure. >> makes up quite a bit of my income, my basic income. i think it's really important, however, that our country, the people that represent us actually do represent us and

really want the best for us. >> if credit card interest rates went up, that would be a real problem for me. if it makes borrowing more difficult, you know, i want to buy a new car next year and that might be more difficult. you know, just things like that, you know, basic day to day things that i deal with. my credit cards, trying to get credit for a purchase. >> i'm concerned we're going into social security and medicare to help balance things off and that's going to affect me personally. >> people don't have jobs. we have this horrible economy and you're going to let the debt ceiling cave in? what are they thinking? they have houses, cars, get their pension, they don't have to worry about it but there's people out here that do. it's just clear they don't care. their concern is not for the people. >> you hear all of that? perhaps some of that resonates with you today. i want to bring in robert reich,

at berkeley. authored "aftershock, america's economy and future." i want to begin with you. i know we have you on and i want to talk jobs and that's what people want to hear about. two scenarios, labor secretary during the government shutdown oddly '95 and early '96. at the time businesses couldn't get loans guaranteed through small business administration, health services for veterans stopped, national parks were closed because, you remember, there just wasn't a budget. so let me give you the if. if congress cannot reach a deal on the debt ceiling by one week from today, how, sir, would the impact compare to what we experienced during the government shutdown during the mid-90s? >> brooke, it would be much worse. a government shutdown is one thing. even in the government shutdown vital government services will continue. people got medicare checks and

medicaid, social security, unemployment checks. the government continued to pay its creditors what was due. but if the debt ceiling is not raised next week, none of that happens. government simply doesn't have any money to pay medicare, medicaid, social security, unemployment insurance, nor can it pay its creditors. it has a limited amount of money but that amount of money continues to dwindle as it tries to pay off everybody it owes. that's why interest rates will go up. everybody who owes money or the government owes money to, including international lenders, are going to get nervous. >> you're saying the situation would be worse come next week. i've also done reading here. you say the budget deficit isn't our biggest problem, it's joblessness. let me ask you this, what does washington need to do, robert reich with regard to the debt ceiling, negotiations, that would create a better atmosphere for job creation and higher wages? >> well, for one thing we've got

to, i would say, exempt the first $20,000 of income from payroll taxes maybe for the next two years. another thing we could do is for the federal government to amend bankruptcy laws so people who are struggling to pay their mortgages could declare personal bankruptcy on their primary residence, something they cannot do right now. that would give them more bargaining leverage with their lenders. a third thing we could do, brooke, would be to have what was done during the new deal, a wpa, civilian conservation corps. all of the long-term unemployed instead of sitting] there, some of them collecting unemployment insurance, could actually be put to work doing things that are not now being done. we could repair our infrastructure, parks, teachers aides, all kinds of things that are necessary. granted this would cost some money in the very short-term but not cost nearly as much as what we are now enduring, which is a

huge amount of joblessness. >> huge amount of joblessness. you've cited several different examples. bottom line congress has to pay -- president says we don't pay the bill we walk away from the bill, it's a debt. the president last night talking about without revenue increases, which we know now by looking at boehner and reid plans, none of which have up front. we're going to have to cut, president cites cuts from education, infrastructure, energy. how would those cuts, robert, make the job crisis even worse? >> well, if the cuts were done now when we have almost 15 million americans unemployed, when we are so much short of our total productive capacity because so many factories and offices and retail establishments and commercial establishments are shuttered, if we started cutting now, that would mean fewer jobs, less money in circulation in terms of buying things.

that would mean more joblessness and a worse economy. that's unthinkable. you know, brooke, the fundamental mistake here is to assume -- this is a political problem, not an economic problem. the political error is to connect deficit reduction over the next 10 years with raising the debt limit that's tuesday. there's no reason that the two of them had to be or have to be connected. >> the republicans when you talk about, let's go back to jobs, republicans argue by raising taxes, that will keep businesses from creating new jobs. that's been their huge sticking point. we know you worked with the clinton administration and we know he raised taxes during that time. 23 million jobs were also created during his eight years in office. what does president obama need to do to get the job market at least moving in that same direction? >> well, as i said, there's many things that can be done. if you're talking about raising

taxes, we know that when president bush reduced taxes, mostly on the wealthy, we didn't get a huge, huge job response. as you said, 22 million new jobs during the clinton administration after president bush reduced taxes on the wealthy we had only 8 million jobs in his eight years of his administration. the median wage, the wage of the typical worker continued to decline. for the first time in history we've seen a recovery when that occurs. reducing taxes on the wealthy doesn't trickle down. we've tried trickle down economics for years, brooke, and it will not work. >> what will work quickly? >> aside from the ideas i put forward just about three minutes ago. >> wpa, et cetera. >> many things can be done. infrastructure bank that would enable united states to borrow from international markets without affecting the budget but nevertheless finance a lot of

the roads and deferred maintenance that needs to be done on our bridges, ports, levees and put a lot of people to work as well. there are five. i've given you five things that can and should be done. unfortunately nothing is being done. we're just locked in this absurd contest over raising the debt limit. >> robert reich, i appreciate it. he says if we don't come to something, this will be worse than the government shutdown back in the '90s. heaven for bid we see that day again. thank you so much, sir. now i do want to take you to capitol hill and get you the latest on the wrangling, absurdity. votes could come on the proposed bills proposed by john boehner in the house and democratic harry reid in the senate. correspondent lisa des jardin has raced through both bills in the fight. any changes we should be aware? any meetings? there's always meetings behind

the scene. any sign of, dare i say, compromise? >> yes, very small one. just in the last hour senate republican leader mitch mcconnell said he is willing to accept something that is not perfect. so he's kind of opening the door to say i am willing to back down from my ideal. he's sending this signal after last night when we heard all the very shop words back and forth. that might be a good sign for compromise. but brooke, to signs in the opposite direction, first of all, we don't know that any plan has the votes to pass. in fact, brooke, in the house republican speaker john boehner is having trouble getting enough votes for his own plan. right now it looks like he doesn't have enough republicans to pass it, hoping for help from democrats. that is high drama on the house side. the second thing, brooke, we just heard from the white house a statement about boehner's plan. the white house sent a strange veto threat. not the president issuing the

threat but said his staff recommends he veto boehner's bill. that's the president walking right up to declaring he will veto it but leaving it open if it's the only option. >> we heard about the threat before although he didn't say it last night at 9:00 eastern. i'll be talking with a member last night. i'll ask about that. the president called on americans to pick up the phone, get on the internet, contact your member of congress to express your views on what should be done here. are the switchboard operators working overtime on the hill? are people calling? >> i have the numbers. i just got them in the last half hour. staff for the house tells me that the call volume today has been twice a normal day. we do know that it shut down many house offices, folks trying to call know they are not getting through because call volume is twice as high as

usual. a republican spokes perp for this committee said, noted this is still not as high as the volume for the health care bill. much higher than usual but still not at health care level. >> bottom line americans are engaged. lisa desjardins, thanks so much. later i'll speak with jay powell, secretary under president bush and talk about a possible back-up plan in case no actual plan, no actual deal is made come august 2nd. stick around for that. coming up we are learning new details about the suspect who says he slaughtered 76 people at oslo, norway, including drugs he took before the attacks. we're learning about this today. also how his attorney plans to defend him in court. also ahead a drunk driver hits and kills a 4-year-old georgia boy. so why is the boy's mother being punished here? we'll be right back. ok. [ cellphone rings ] hey. you haven't left yet. no. i'm boarding now... what's up?

um...would you mind doing it again? last time. [ engine turns over ] oooohhhh...sweet. [ male announcer ] the chevy cruze with the my chevrolet app. the remote control car is finally here. well, now she's just playing with us. oh. [ horn honks ] -why? -why? -why? [ female announcer ] we all age differently. roc® multi-correxion 4 zone moisturizer with roc®retinol and antioxidants. lines, wrinkles, and sun damage will fade. roc multi-correxion. correct what ages you.

[ slap! slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums unlike fish oil, megared softgels are small and easy to swallow

with no fishy smell or aftertaste. try megared today. you know president obama and vice president biden paid their respects today, just this afternoon, to the victims of norway's domestic terror attacks. they visited the home of the norwegian ambassador to the united states and sat there, signed the condolence book. the president wrote that, "thoughts and prayers of all americans are with the people of norway." another somber visit today, this one by norway's prime minister to the site of the massive car bomb explosion there near his office in downtown oslo. that explosion killed eight people and preceded the horrific shooting spree at the campus 20 miles away on the island last friday. let's go live to oslo to my colleague michael holmes who is there. clearly michael the memorial

growing behind you. talk to me a little about it. we're learning some of the names of the victims today, names of the 76 people killed last friday in and around oslo. >> combine both those into one. i'll get the camera man to pan around when i talk about the memorial growing here every minute. we've been here all day. people coming through hundreds, thousands really placing flowers, flags, candles, all kinds of mementos, drawings by kids to honor those slain by anders breivik. it's been a very moving day, actually. it's very quiet here, very respectful, dignified, literally thousands of people have come. you mentioned the names. that's right. police today saying they will complete all identifications by the end of the week formally and starting to release names. they will do so every day at 6:00. they released four names. while we look at the memorial, i

think it's important to read them. >> please. >> there's four to be named today. so from 23 to 61, the first of the victims of anders breivik named today by police and there will be more tomorrow. >> look at those flowers. look at that picture. michael, i dov to ask you about the suspect anders behring breivik. the defense attorneys spoke to reporters today. they are not painting the most flattering picture of their client. they are also not denying breivik confessed to killing these people. >> absolutely. this the interesting thing. he admitted to everything. he said i did it and i don't regret doing it either.

it's part of a war. he wanted to start a revolution in europe. it's part of a war and everything will understand why in 60 years, real ranting stuff. his lawyer has a real insight into how this guy is thinking. he said from the facts of the case, the guy is in sane. he's still deciding whether he'll use an insanity verdict. listen to part of the news conference, brooke. >> i can't describe him because he's not like any one of us. so it's very difficult for me to describe him. this whole case, it's indicated he's insane. he's in a war and says the rest of the world, especially the western world, don't understand his point of view that in 60 years' time we'll all understand it. he hates everyone who lives in the western world, believes in the normal political system. anyone who is not an extremist

he will hate. >> breivik now has spent his first night, about to spend his second night in solitary confinement, having eight weeks before his next court appearance, brooke. >> michael holms, thank you so much. i want to remind you just to stay with cnn. we're going to explore more the mind, possible motivations of bombing and shooting suspect. in just a couple of minutes a professor and author reading breivik's purported 1500-page manifesto tweeting his thoughts. jeff joins me here later on cnn with more on what he's learning. coming up next, a hit-and-run accident killed her 4-year-old son, a drunk driver charged and spent since months in prison will why is this little one's mother punished? she's in court today and now is speaking out. that is coming up next. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time.

what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do.

a georgia man could have gotten more prison time than the hit-and-run driver who killed her son won't spend any more time behind bars here. a judge sentenced raquel nelson to 12 months probation and community service. she was convicted of vehicular homicide and two other misdemeanors in the jaywalking accident that killed her son. that story got a lot of people's attentions because nelson initially faced up to 36 months in prison, a sentence six times longer than the time served by the driver who hit and killed her son. this accident happened last october. nelson and her three children that got off a bus at a stop across from their apartment building north of atlanta, when four-year-old a.j. broke away from her and started running across the street.

a driver swerved around, hit and killed him. nelson and one of her daughters were slightly injured. she told nbc's "today" show the nearest crosswalk was .3 of a mile from the dross walk and she was trying to get home before dark. the driver took off. police did catch up with him. he was sentenced to five years in prison and served a mere six months. he is on the probation for the rest of his sentence. raquel nelson says she couldn't have gotten through the ordeal without support from her family, the community. here is what she said a few moments ago. >> i'd really like to thank everybody for your concern and support and helping get the message out there. hopefully we can move on from this situation better than we have been throughout this situation. i'd like to thank everyone who showed up today, all you guys,

everyone who showed up and told me that they love me and they really cared about the situation. it's helped a whole lot. >> the judge also offered nelson the option of a new trial. her attorney tells the atlanta journal constitution he thinks they will move ahead with that on this story in the 4:00 with sonny hostin. still ahead he's accused of making unwanted sexual advances on a teenager girl. his campaign staff said he needs psychiatric help. today a surprise announcement from a seven-term congressman. another casualty in the shaky economy, why the local post office could soon close its doors. are. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the cc. and every volkswagen includes scheduled carefree maintenance. that's the power of german engineering. right now lease the volkswagen cc sport for just $289 a month.

♪ visit vwdealer.com today. ♪ purina cat chow helps you well-being. we're all striving for it. nurture it in your cat with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. we get double miles on every purchase, so me and my lads earned a trip to san francisco twice as fast! we get double miles every time we use our card... i'll take these two...

...no matter what we're buying. ...and all of those. and since double miles add up fast, we can bring the whole gang! it's hard to beat double miles! whoa dude. [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one and earn double miles on every purchase, every day. go to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? vegas! now?! [ female announcer ] two hours to vegas. two hours to whiten. ♪ crest whitestrips two hour express. in just two hours you can have a noticeably whiter smile that lasts for months. ♪ hi. hi. where you guys headed? i think we're here. [ female announcer ] whitening without the wait. 3d white two hour express whitestrips...from crest. life opens up when you do. and try 3d white toothpaste and rinse.

couple of top stories for you here including a seven-term u.s. representative from oregon resigning from congress. democrat david wu accused of making unwanted sexual advances on a teenager girl last year. the accuser is reportedly the daughter of one of the congressmen's campaign fund-raiser. the house leadership announced an ethics investigation into those accusations just yesterday. wu had already said he wouldn't

run for another term. good night, my angel, those words reportedly from amy winehouse's father to his daughter today. the rabbi led the grammy award winning singers in england while hundreds gathered outside their appear. british police do not expect to know the cause of death for they are estimating a few weeks. amy winehouse was found dead saturday. mtv plans to honor winehouse by airing a 2007 concert performance last night. a small town post office could get the axe as the postal service is struggling to close a $20 billion revenue gap. today the postmaster general release add list of 3700 potential closings in all states including the nation's capital there. it could begin as early as january and eliminate at least 4,000 jobs. most of the endangered branches have so little foot traffic they have less than 50 bucks in

sales. they plan to reduce service to five days a week. we are just one week away, one week, until about 70 million checks go out to social security recipients the week before the u.s. defaults on debt. will u.s. find a way to pay recipients and is there a back-up plan in place. coming up, a man that knows some of the answers to the questions. hey can i play with the toys ? sure, but let me get a little information first. for broccoli, say one. for toys, say two.

toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know it's wrong to give someone the run around. at ally bank you never have to deal with an endless automated system. you can talk to a real person 24/7. it's just the right thing to do. time for help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me executive editor at cbs money watch.com and

president of optimum capital management. thanks for being here, guys. first question from eric in california. i have the cash rewards credit card which i use to pay for everything. i always pay it off within a week or so and never leave a balance when my statement comes around. can this hurt my credit score? >> no. eric, you rock. if we all followed eric's example we'd be in great shape. keep doing it. the credit card companies don't like him. they are giving him cash and he's not giving them any interest rate love. stick wit, keep paying it off. at some point could you have a blank credit score because you've never borrowed money, yes. that problem is so small compared to the dangers of carrying too much debt, don't worry about it at all. >> good to have an example for of us. a question from julia in atlanta. i'm nude married, taxable income is $50,000, my husband's is $275,000, can i contribute to a

roth ira under my name if we file separately. >> no, $166,000 for jointly filing eligible for 166, so i believe 179 phases out, 179 plus you're not eligible for contributions. for an individual, if she's filing by herself, 107 below eligible, 107 to 122 phases out, 122 or higher not eligible. the biggest question here is making sure they is the down and talk about their finances. that's a big huge discrepancy of income, how much is he going to contribute, she going to contribute, newly married, lot of conversations need to be had. >> or before you walk down the aisle. if you have questions for experts send us an e-mail any time.

debt he ceiling deadline is one week away, one week from the day we have been warned all financial hell can break lose unless washington increases the country's borrowing power. while plenty of bickering, there's no sign anyone is willing to compromise on a deal to increase the credit limit. this hour veterans groups simmoned to the white house to be briefed on what could happen to their ranks if the debt ceiling isn't raised. also a vote could come tomorrow on competing debt ceiling bills one proposed by harry reid and the other by the speaker of the house john boehner. right now i want to bring in jay powell. he served as treasury under-secretary under the first president bush." mr. powell great to have you on. just so set the stage, we've been talking a lot about debt

ceiling lately. how many times did congress raise the ceiling during your time, the treasury? >> it's been 20 years, two or three times. they weren't as stressful as this but a little bit of private hair pulling. >> i do know a number, congress acted 78 times since 1960 to raise the debt limit. point being this has been done more than a few times before. we hear secretary geithner's warnings, hearing them all morning long since before january. we know we hit the ceiling in may. what is it, mr. powell, that makes this time so difficult, so different? >> what's different is people in the country are upset, appropriately so, unsustainable fiscal position. our budget deficits at record levels. there's not a lot of faith congress will do anything about it. that explains 2010 elections and explains all the energy going into doing something now in

connection with the debt increase that will return us to a sustainable fiscal path. >> we heard from the president week before last in an interview and talked about it since, the social security checks. something like 70 million supposed to go out to resit yents day before the deadline august 3rd. if washington doesn't come up with something, sir, won't the treasury still find a way to pay these men and women? >> first of all, there won't be a bond default. they will find a way to pay the debt as a matter of first priority. after that there's a possibility that the social security payment due august 3rd would be delayed, a much greater possibility that the payment due august 10th will be delayed. it won't be delayed -- it's not that the payment won't be made, it's that the payment will be made late. >> ultimately people would be getting checks just not on time. you were there at the treasury. good thing you were not there. i imagine you're nervous

thinking about what these folks are dealing with. what kind of triage might be taking place at treasury now? >> i assume in the administration there's a lot of concontinuing ann plan going on, the bond default is a low probability. either the administration is thinking its way through what it would pay and wouldn't or taking the position, hopefully we'll never find out, may tat position they don't have the authority to decide who gets paid and who doesn't get paid and let the bills be paid in the order they do out of available cash that way the decisions are made effectively by the clock rather than by the administration. they may decide to do it that way. >> treasury developing contingency plans. in california, for example, on the state level is asking for emergency bridge loan to help continue funding if something isn't -- if a compromise isn't reached. do you see that as an extreme measure? >> in california?

>> yeah. >> i don't see that as extreme. california borrows regularly. california has good market access despite it's extremely well reported credit problems over the years, lowest rated state tied with illinois. they have had good solid credit market access and i don't envision if you're asking about the federal government, nothing like that is remotely envisioned at the federal level. >> state level you're not surprised. >> no. >> finally, mr. powell, the world is watching the u.s. right now. to paraphrase what the new imf chief said yesterday, i'm paraphrasing again, this thing is lurking in the background of each and every economy in the world right now. it doesn't get much more impactful than that, does it, sir? >> well, they are really talking there about a bond default by the united states, which is the risk-free borrower. that is one of those incredibly consequential events that is very unlikely to happen. so yes, it's unthinkable. it would have potentially grave

consequences for the world economy. again, low probability no matter what happens on the debt ceiling. >> jay powell, thank you so much. >> thank you. coming up next, friends and family say fairwell to amy winehouse today as the music world still grappling with her death. the question on everyone's minds is could she have been saved. i'll speak with the man who knows the singer's addiction wefl. we'll ask him about that. plus what amy's father is saying he will do to honor her. in hery can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪ medical history follows you. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities... committed to delivering the most advanced mobile broadband experience to help move business... forward. ♪ to help move business... forward.

when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ whistles ] ♪ [ cat meows ] ♪ [ ting! ] [ male announcer ] travelers can help you protect the things you care about and save money with multi-policy discounts. are you getting the coverage you need and the discounts you deserve? for an agent or quote, call 800-my-coverage or visit travelers.com.

amy winehouse, the woman with the soulful voice and terrible drug and alcohol addiction. friends and family shocked by her death over the weekend, though not entirely surprised. still talking about it, tweeting about it, it is trending today. her funeral and cremation in london was attended by those very close to her today. a formal cause of death is expected to be released in october after results of a toxicology test come back.

but her father did release a statement. i want to read part of it here. quote, knowing she wasn't depressed, knowing she passed away happy, it makes us all feel better. when i heard, i said i wanted an amy winehouse foundation. he says it would help the things she loved, children, horses and especially those struggling with substance abuse. speaking of, i want to talk to dr. howard sanders, ceo and recovering heroin and cocaine addict and has seen both sides of the problem. first, congratulationulating you, you've been sober many years. you are the son of a prominent politician now helping others at the treatment center. what is it about living with an addiction and what is it about this age 27? so many people seem to die at 27. >> well, you know, it's around

that age period -- addiction starts for people when they are a teenager, brooke. the addiction becomes more severe and more severe because you need more drugs to get high. i started doing heroin at 16 years old. i was in rehab at 20 and convicted flown at 20. that's why i went into rehappen. when i came out of rehab i thought i could drink because i was a drug alcohol. when i started to drink it took me back to drugs." ioded several times. in your late 20s the addiction comes worse. for me i didn't hit my bottom until 22 and my family saved my life. it's very strange her father said she died happy. >> he was concerned about her health as we have read.

look at this video with me. i don't know if you have a monitor. the last time we've seen her public performance. i want to say this was in june when she was in belgrade. if you watch her -- let's listen to her. ♪ >> so she's stumbling. i just wanted to ask, she's stumbling. at what point -- she's even forgetting the lines to a song. if you ar friend, a family member, if you know she's struggling with addiction and so many people did, why didn't anyone see this show and do anything? >> brooke, that's the million dollar question. my family started to see my

addiction rise again. i've got to say they saved my life because they stopped enabling me. there's a whole team around amy that enabled her. look at her, she's on stage. agents, business managers, family members, they are all part of the problem. that's one of the reasons why i believe amy is dead today along with her own denial. i had a 25-year-old woman, one of my clients, die last week of a heroin overdose. now, her problem wasn't that bad. that's really, really sad. as far as i'm concerned, if you're a drug addict, you either get help or you die. amy is dead. >> without some kind of solution, there's so many people out there and parents of adult children who suffer with this addiction. as russell brand said, look, you either get the phone call that person is gone, you get the phone call that person wants help. sometimes you can't force your adult child into help, so what

do you do? >> well, you know, a mother just called me today and her son left rehab. i told the mother that she needed to have tough love, she needed to stop enabling her son and her son needs to reach a bottom. i believe families have to intervene and speakerve vand in way they can to save their loved one. i also believe the person has to hit a bottom where there is a psychic shift. my psychic shift came about in treatment. thank god my family stopped enabling me. thank god they stopped giving me money and ways to manipulate. if it wasn't for my family, i wouldn't be alive here today. i say to families out there, it's about the families. the families have to get in there, call people, call counselors, call interventionists, you've got to get in there to save your loved one before it's too late. >> tough love.

great advice from someone who knows too well. howard sanders, thank you for coming on. >> thank you. coming up next, if the economy is an indicator, it's a woman's world. believe it or not men are getting hit hardest with job losses. poppy harlow is standing by to tell us why and if it's a trend that's here to stay. we're back in a moment. my - what, my hair? no. car insurance. i switched to progressive and they gave me discounts for the time i spent with my old company. saved a bunch. that's a reason to switch. big savings -- it's a good look for you. [ blower whirring ] [blower stops] the safety was off. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive. it's the cleanest, clearest water. we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster we can find. yeah! [ male announcer ] hurry in to crabfest at red lobster.

the only time you can savor three sweet alaskan crab entrees all under $20, like our hearty crab and roasted garlic seafood bake or snow crab and crab butter shrimp. [ jon ] i wouldn't put it on my table at home, i wouldn't bring it in. my name's jon forsythe, and i sea food differently. the chevy cruze eco offers an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon on the highway. how does it do that? well, to get there, a lot of complicated engineering goes into every one. like variable valve timing and turbocharging, active front grille shutters that close at high speeds, and friction reducing -- oh, man, that is complicated. how about this -- cruze eco offers 42 miles per gallon. cool? ♪

>> here's a number for you. five. one out of five american men is out of work. and the longer they're unemployed, the harder it is to get back in the work force. they're calling this now, fk o, there's a phrase. the man-cession. poppy harlow is in new york with more. a man-cession. how do the men compare with the ladies when it comes to job loss? >> that's a good question. you said it right there. 1 in 5 american men are not working today. it's's up from 7% in 1970. that's according to a mu mckenzie study. this isn't just a lack of jobs. this is men that are in jail, on disability, wrelying on their spouse's income.

5.4 million men lost their job, 2.1 million women lost their job. so you see how that played out. now, we've got about 14 million unemployed americans. the question is why did men get hit so much harder, brooke? a lot of it had to do with where they worked. they worked in manufacturing and construction. those sectors got hit very hard. we wanted to know what's going on now. why are a lot of men and women not getting jobs, not getting back into the work force. we talked to the ceo of manpower. here's his take. take a listen. >> well, we have an issue, there is no doubt about it. and the longer we have this long-term unemployed, even for what would be considered the entry level skill position, the shop floor is not going to be the same shop floor for that person left 2 1/2 years ago. new technology is put in place, how you have to read a cad drawing, so we're still going to have this kind of skills mismatch of what companies are looking at to get the highest skills and what is really on the marketplace.

and the u.s. is not alone in that. it's just exacerbated because of the low demand in the u.s. >> so brooke, you heard it, there's a skills mismatch. and i think that's exemplified for a company like goog .. they said we're going to hire this year more than we ever had in the past. they have 1,500 to 2,500 open positions, but they told us there's a huge lack of the right talent in the united states. a huge lack of engineers in this country that have the skill set that they need to put them to work. that's not just men. that's men and women. >> i know those are the numbers when it comes to losses. but i do just want to drive everyone to the article over your left shoulder. there are also encouraging numbers when it comes to recovery for the men in addition to the lady. but poppy harlow, got to leave it there. coming up, the man who said he slaughtered 76 people in oslo,

norway, apparently inspired by some conservative christian voices in america. but first, wolf blitzer is standing by with your news off the political ticker next. ok. [ cellphone rings ] hey. you haven't left yet. no. i'm boarding now... what's up? um...would you mind doing it again? last time. [ engine turns over ] oooohhhh...sweet. [ male announcer ] the chevy cruze with the my chevrolet app. the remote control car is finally here. well, now she's just playing with us. oh. [ horn honks ]

wolf, i can only imagine you're leading with a very important date, a week from today. i was watching you last night.

tremendous coverage and we're all sort of biting our teeth here, biting our nails. >> yeah. you know, we should really be worried rite now. i just posted a blog on our cnn.com/situationroom websites expressing my own concerns pip'm seeing a lot of political posturing right now in washington. i'm seeing a lot of statements going after each other, democrats, republicans, from the white house, elsewhere. i'm not seeing a whole lot of movement in public and i'm not seeing a whole lot of movement behind the scenes and that clock, as you know, is really ticking right now. one thing we are seeing a lot of is people are registering their anger, their frustration, they're calling their members of congress in big numbers, some of those phone lines are simply died up as you know. brooke, some of the e-mails that are coming in, disrupting some of the servers some of the websites are down. it reminds me of some of major battles that we've seen in washington in recent years including battle over the president's health care reform. it's a real, real tense moment,

but the contacts are real significant, if, in fact, the united states can't pay its bill, if, in fact, it goes into default, it's going to impact everyone, not only in the united states, but so many people around the world. so that's why so many people are nervous about what's going on, including me, if you read my blog. check it out if you have a few moments. i will be discussing all of this extensively during the two hours of the situation room. "david plouff, one of the architects of the president's election back in 2008 is joining us. we're also speaking with congressman jim jordan. he's a leading conservative in the house. he's now split with john da boehner. eh says the boehner proposal is not good. he doesn't think boehner has the 217 votes necessary to pass it in the house of representatives and the white house is now threatening to veto that boehner legislation even if it managed to get through the house and the senate. it's not going to get through the senate in any case.

barbara mikulski from maryland will be joining us as well. she and a lot of democrats are concerned ability some of the s a -- about some of the aspects going on. i can't overemphasize the consequences of what's involved right now. brooke? >> i'm looking down at your blog and about to tweet that you're nervous. i'm nervous, too. thank you very much. we'll see what else you have coming up on "sit room" momentarily. now here's what we have at the top of the hour. watch this. whose plan will really work? what are the sticking points to save america from defaulting on its debt. and what if washington doesn't come up with something? the news is now. a drunk driver hit this woman and her 3-year-old. her little 4-year-old died. so why did a judge sentence her today.

sunny hostin is on the case. and it's a chilling manifesto that authorities believe this man wrote before carrying out a bloodbath. who was he most enamored by? what inspired him politically. you may be surprised if you actually read the whole thing. and my guest today has. religion and political scholar joins me live. then glenn beck's shocking suggestion that the teenagers at that norway political camp remind him of the hitler youth. he went on to question why young people would be sent to a political camp at all. what? that is not only inappropriate, it's just plain wrong. today, we're calling him out. welcome back. let me remind you again, the debt ceiling deadline, one week away. we've been warned that all

financial health could break loose. while there's plenty of partisan bickering in public. there's still no sign anyone is ready to compromise on a deal to increase the nation's credit limit. republicans are having a tough time drumming up support for their plan, and the white house is issuing a veiled threat to veto it. that just in this afternoon, saying that is what the staff is recommending to the president. a couple of ore items i want to pass along to you also happening today. the white house is calling in the troops. veterans groups are heading right there to 1600 pennsylvania avenue to be briefed on what could happen to their ranks if the debt ceiling isn't raised. and some states are making contingency plans. case in point, california, taking out a temporary $5 billion loan. this bridge loan to help pay its bills in case congress fails to act and turmoil in the credit markets makes it impossible for the state to borrow money after august 2. take a walk with me.

i want to show you as we've been discussing, there are two different bills on the table we heard in detail about these bills yesterday. you have one from marry reid and this other bill now out there from house speaker john boehner. and keep in mind, they do have similarities .and that's what i want to first highlight. both plans would cut spending. also neither of these plans would raise taxes. but there is one really huge difference. this -- the time line. the reid plan would raise the debt ceiling beyond next year's presidential election. but if you look at the boehner plan, mr. boehner would like to raise the debt kreeling in two separate steps, setting up the possibility we could be having this drama, this debt debate during next year's election season.

here we are, at a stalemate as the president said last night. that is the final day the white house says the united states will have enough money to pay off its creditors. but let me say this. this is unchartered territory. economists warn that interest rates are unlikely to jump. it could affect you if you have an a.r.m., an adjustable rate morgan gaj. if you're trying to refinance or sell your house, higher mortgage rates would price some potential buyers totally out of the market. if you're looking to buy a car, a car loan would definitely cost you more. also credit cards, you're going to pay more to keep a balance on

your credit cards if this whole thing doesn't happen. and the stock and bond markets. the stock and bond markets could drop. and that means your retirement savings, your mutual fund investments would take a hit. and we've been talking to a lot of you across the country today. and a lot of you are concerned about how a failure to raise the debt ceiling would affect your wallet. >> if this is not resolved, forget about a recession. we're going to go into a depression. >> i'm concerned about future generations. >> what are you concerned about? >> i think we need to stop spending money right now. >> i'm a little concerned about social security for sure. it makes up quite a bit of my income, you know, my basic income. and i think it's really important however that our country, that the people that represent us actually do represent us. >> if credit card interest rates went up, that would be a real

problem for me. i want to buy a new car next year. that might be more difficult. you know, just things like that. >> people don't have jobs, we have a horrible economy. then they're going to let the debt ceiling save in? it's clear they don't care. their concern is not for the people. stephanie, good to see you. we've been talking to folks. they've been airing their grievances and concerns. look, we have this concrete boehner plan. we have a reid plan. where is the president's plan? at least, you know, outlined on paper. >> you know, the president has been leading a process for months to bring both parties together to find areas on which can agree. he spoke last friday night very

strongly about where he thought those areas of agreement were. and, in fact, in senator reid's fan, it's an example of where the agreement was before senator boehner walked away from negotiations. they have been agreed to by people who were sitting in the room negotiating and representing speaker boehner. senator reid has a plan that had bipartisan support that could extend the debt ceiling all the way through to 2012, put our economy on stronger footing and remove the cloud of uncertainty to focus on what we really need to focus on and grow the economy. >> speaking of passing or not necessarily passing, i'll throw a hypothetical at you. if the boehner plan doesn't pass the senate, if the reid plan doesn't pass the house, the clock is tick, then what? >> well, exactly. you're right. the clock is ticking. that was part of the president's message last night. compromise.

we need to find areas in which we can compromise. it can't be my way or the highway. we have to find areas in which we can agree. we're continuing to have discussions with the house and senate where we can find areas to agree. the house is moving forward on their plan. you're right. it's not going to pass the house or the senate. senator reid is not clear on how many republican votes it can get. we hope it can be a bipartisan agreement. we hope that we can. the president remains confident that we can fulfill our commitments to the american people, to make sure we can pay our obligations. you know, last night, he said the american people voted for divided government, but they didn't vote for dysfunctional government. they need to get this done. >> i know the white house has held many, many high level meetings. are any talks like that

happening today? now we know he has officially endorsed senator reid's plan, is he at all trying to sell this? >> i'm not going to get into exactly who the president is talking to today. >> is he talking today? >> is he talking about senator reid's plan? >> i canyes, ma'am. >> i can't get into the conversations he's been having with people, but he was clear and clear last night with all the american people that he thinks it's a better path forward than the one that speaker boehner put forward. it's a better path forward for the reasons i put forward. it's something we can get done right now. >> i know we are all looking at that final data, august 2. the official deadline from the treasury. the writing of the legislation takes time. they can't wait until monday night. i'm hearing it's this wednesday night, the night that this compromise, this plan needs to be voted upon, agreed upon. is that the correct night? is that really the real deadline? or is it earlier?

>> well, you know, it's probably last wednesday. but, you know, the -- all i can say is that the time -- time is running out. and we need to move forward on something that we can compromise on as quickly as possible. everybody knows that too many people in washington like to wait until the last minute to get things done. in this with we're a elie playing with fire. we're talking about the nation's full faith and credit. and i was listening to your segment earlier and talking about the consequences to the american people of not raising our debt ceiling. and those are the real consequences for people. if interest rates go up, that's the equivalent of a tax hike to everybody. anybody who has a mortgage, a credit card. that's things people can't afford right now. they can't afford a tax increase when they're strugen to just make ends meet. there are real-life consequences to what's going on right now.

let's not use the nation's debt as a political football. let's get it done. thank you. and also some new details. let's leave debt aside. we are learning fascinating new details today about the suspect who said he slaughtered the 76 people in oslo, including drugs he took before last friday's attacks. we're also learning a lot about him from the 1,500 online manifesto. coming up, the man who read the entire manifesto.

members of the american postal worker's union handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal worker's union. but afraid you can't afford it? well, look how much insurance many people can get through selectquote for less than a dollar a day. selectquote found, rich, 37, a $500,000 policy for

under $18 a month. even though dave, 43, takes meds to control his blood pressure, selectquote got him a $500,000 policy for under $28 a month. ellen, 47, got a $250,000 policy for under $20 a month. all it takes is a phone call. your personal selectquote agent will answer all your questions ... and impartially shop the highly rated term life companies selectquote represents for your best rates. give your family the security it needs at a price you can afford. call this number or go to selectquote dot com. selectquote. we shop. you save. unlike fish oil, megared softgels are small and easy to swallow with no fishy smell or aftertaste. try megared today.

norway is still reeling from the first act of terrorism there ever. today they're releasing the names of 76 people killed in a car bombing and subsequent mass shooting spree last friday. today, four names game out and police will be releasing more each and every day as identities are confirmed and families are notified. also today, defense attorneys for the man who has reportedly confessed to the killings saying their client may be insaid, but they're not quite sure that will be their defense. some have made opinions. a professor at dartmouth writes

defensively about politics. ? people haven't seen your tweeting, i want to share some of the tweets with our audience and then we'll talk about some of them afterwards. you write scrip schur was never intended to be the believer's sole guide. scripture and tradition go together. breivik says he took oath to defend christian religion, what they mean is he's a bad christian, greed. jeff, talk to me about the parts of this manifesto that sparked many of those comments, and there are many comment i don't say uh ear making. >> i think one of the big interesting debates that's coming out around this manifesto is here's what we have what appears to be a christian terrorist. and a lot of people want to say well, this has nothing to do with christianity. of course, it's true it has nothing to do with the great traditions of christianity that so mf of us know.

but he clearly sees himself as a christian. early on in the manifesto, he says i'm not very religion, but by the end of it he says i've become more and more religious. and he crites leaders for what he calls battle versus. >> i want to, of course, continue the christian point you're making. but it's also as you said, what's so striking to you about reading this manifesto, he cites a lot of sources as american. just rattle off for me, because i imagine a lot of our audience has not read this. people from ayn rand to plajerizing militias in tennessee to johnny cash? >> johnny cash, he just crites the same christian versus from a famous johnny cash sopng. he begins it with a long edited book on political correctness by

a prominent american conservative. he goes on with robert spencer, very prominent anti-islam blogger. pamela geller, anti-islam blogger. he quotes rich lowry, a conservative writer from the national review. joseph farrah, he goes to another conservative writer for justifications, christian justifications. it's important to emphasize that that doesn't make these people responsible for what he did. he pulled the trigger, not them. but he's very much coming out of an american milieu. >> it's an american milieu and also very easy, you know, since this whole thing, call him, just label him as mad man. he's gunning down children, he's disguised as a police officer. what issue do you take with the fact that a lot of people just call him a mad man? >> you know, i'm not a psychologist. what i think -- what happens when we focus on the psychological condition of this is we don't deal with the fact

that he's a political actor. and he represents a growing subsequency in europe and the united states. people who wouldn't go as far as he does, but a number of people have come out. brian fisher of the american family association says the manifesto is perfectly accurate. so when we just dismiss him as a madman, we don't really engage with the problematic politics that are informing this. whether, you know, his legal defense, whether he goes to an insane asioux asylum or prison, the rest of us need to really deal with the fact that this is coming out of a very, very deep hate that can't be ignored as insanity. >> to that point, you go on saying he's deeply invested in the values of christianity, though at the same time if you're christian and watching, you don't have to be christian to know the ten commandments, thou shall not kill.

>> and he is invoking another christian tradition. a good part of the manifesto is dedicated to quoting sources, many american sources defending the crusades, saying that there is a righteous, a righteous cause. some of us have heard that he sees himself as a modern day christian knight and in the defense of christiandom. >> a modern day christian knight? >> yes, and what's more frighten, we don't know how true this is, he talks about meeting with some serbian war criminals and representatives of nationalist movements from other european countries. and one american couldn't be there, and formed this little society. his travel records show that he did travel to the place where is he said he met them and so we really want to make it, you know, as the norwegian, the british police are, are there other people willing to take that awful step and turn their hatred into violence.

>> i know one of his mentors, british mentor. that is the question and that is the fear, how many other people their sheez saare these same be and how many people helped him carry it out. fascinating discussion. coming up next, friends and family say faedeay farewell to winehouse. tomotive performance . and all we have left are fallen leaves and broken dreams. oh. wait a second. that is a dodge durango. looks like american performance is doing just fine. ♪ carry on. ♪

"rapid fire" let's go.

friends and family gathered to say goodbye to amy winehouse today. a formal cause of death is expected to be released in october. the singer battled drug and alcohol addiction and her father, mitch winehouse released a statement where he said he hoped to start an amy winehouse foundation. it would help with things she loved the most, that being children and horses but also those who are struggling with substance abuse. take a look at this billboard with me. yes, those rf hot dogs. sticking out of a cigarette back and it says warning hot dogs can wreck your health. the billboard is sponsored by the physicians committee. research shows eating one single hot dog a day can increase your colorectal cancer risk by 21%. it's near the indianapolis motor speedway where more than 1 million hot dogs were sold just last year. and take a look at this catch. this is a 650-pound shark, yieks. took a group of fishermen more than two hours to reel this guy

in. 13 feet long. it's a thresher sharks. they're the world's eighth largest shark. a bit of a mystery here, who is this guy? well, that's what they're trying to figure out in this jail. he's been locked up more than three years and he won't say who he is. he was arrested for trespassing in a police parking garage. police cannot find any information on this man. they even checked his fingerprints in a state datab e database. now they're asking for help from the fbi and you, the public. in australia, kangaroo is no match for a 94-year-old grandma. phyllis johnson is recovering from her smackdown with a red kangaroo. her weapon -- a broom. she says she was hanging clothes when a kangaroo you showed up and knocked her down to the ground. she grabbed the broom, hit him a couple of times.

she made it to the house and called police. they used pepper spray to subdue the kangaroo. mcdonald's is getting healthier. they're cutting about 20% of calories in its happy meals so there will be fewer french fries and more fruit and veggies for your kids. it will be offered in all 14,000 restaurants come next april. prices will stay the same and the meals will still include a free toy. so your kids still get that. but all this comes after several california municipalities passed laws stopping the free toy giveaways and unhealthy restaurant meals for kids. straight ahead, he's accused of making unwanted sexual advances on a teenage girl. his campaign staff says he needs psychiatric help. now today a surprise announcement from this seven-term congressman. paul steinhouser has that and more next. [ male announcer ] millions of men 45 and older

just don't feel like they used to. are you one of them? remember when you had more energy for 18 holes with your buddies. more passion for the one ya love. more fun with your family and friends. it could be a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. come on, stop living in the shadows. you've got a life to live. [ male announcer ] so don't blame it on aging. talk to your doctor and go to isitlowt.com to find out more.

an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy?

let's go to paul steinhauser.

we heard from the president and from speaker boehner. but what do americans want? >> we got a brand-new poll but it's the same story. americans want a compromise. check out these numbers. should your lawmaker compromise even if it goes against their principles when it comes to the debt ceiling or should they stand by their guns? look at that, 68%. nearly 7 in 10 say compromise to avoid a default. but there's a bipartisan divide. democrats say compromise. it goes down for independents and down even more for republicans. and for tea party republicans, only 1 in 4 say compromise rather than avoid government default. our own cnn poll had the same numbers last week and just about every other poll showing the same thing. we're talking about david wu. he's now saying resign because

of all this pressure mounting. how will this play within the democratic party. >> i think in a way this is almost a relief to the democratic party, at least the national democrats. wu is a congressman out of oregon's first congressional district. some of the other areas around portland. and it's a pretty heavily democratic district. but you know what, a source on the gop said told me if wu had stayed in, they may have had a shot. now that wu is out, even the republicans who i talked to often camera, they say they kind of hint, this is -- it's not going to happen. this is democratic speak. wu says i can't take care of my family the way i wish while serving in congress and fighting these serious allegations. he said he'll resign when the whole debt ceiling crisis is over. paul, thank you very much. coming up next year, why your local post office could soon be

closing its doors. also, why black and hispanic americans are faring much worse in today's economy. we'll be right back.

the eagle flies at dawn. the monkey eats custard. price-line ne-go-ti-a-tor. so, you've been double crossed by other travel sites and now you want to try the real deal. yes, is it true that name your own price... ...got even easier? affirmative. we'll show you other people's winning hotel bids. so i'll know how much to bid... ...and save up to 60% i'm in i know the lady in leather travels on three wheels. wait, is that code? that's my secret weapon... ...naomi pryce see winning hotel bids now at priceline.

>> veterans are meeting with the white house staff. let's play reporter roulette, shall we? as we talk debt leer, and we all know the deadline. one of the first to pay the race will be our nation's veterans. advocacy groups are getting an agreement. veez veterans groups say they started receiving phone calls late last night, asking them to come to the white house. the veterans have formed wars, the american legion, the

veterans of america, the disabled veterans of america, all the groups we know so well, meeting at the white house at this hour. they are very concerned that their veterans, especially disabled veterans will lose their disability checks and their benefits from the department of veterans affairs if this is not resolved. and i have to tell you, tomorrow there will be a virtual online march, a virtual protest against washington. it is being organized by the disabled american veterans. if you want to see more about what's going on on line with america's veterans and this situation in washington, go to dav.org, disabled american veterans. they are there are some videos and messages posted by veterans, expressing their concern about this economic crisis. brooke? >> so they are most deaf northwestly speaking out. quickly, what's the back story

on them going to the white house today? did the president say it's important enough for them to have these men and women come? or did they shout loud enough. >> i think it's a combination of both. but the bottom line is politics. this is a very significant voting bloc whether for the republicans or the democrats. and the level of concern now rising in the the veterans community is making their voice heard. that is something boat the white house and capitol hill knows full well and they are going to have to deal with the veterans if this is not resolved. brooke? >> next, we go to the new york stock exchange. the postal service planning to close 3,700 branches nationwide to erase a $20 billion revenue gap by 2015. will this actually save money? i have to imagine yes. so how much? >> yes, it will save money. not all that much, but 200

million. that's a significant am. people are paying their bills and sending letters using e-mail instead of what we now call snail mail. the postal service says that those 3,700 locations are mostly in smaller communities and that they have so few customers that the employees are averaging less than two hours of work per day and that the average sales are less than $50 a day. you can go to usps.com. click on newsroom to see if your local post office is included. and by the way, brook, six locations are in atlanta. i imagine they're a little busier than two hours a day for the employees. >> i imagine so. but let's say if you are in atlanta, some of these more rural areas, rural towns, if you want to mail a package, you have a p.o. box there, what do you do? >> you're going to have to drive to the next closest location,

but for if you just want to buy stamps, there's a village post office located in perhaps a local business. a pharmacy, a grocery. by going back to this concept, the postal service should be able to save some money. >> the past is new again. thank you so much. let's talk about this study here. many black and hispanic american households are faring worse in the recession than white households. why the disparity? >> it's all about where you put your money. while the housing market here, especially out in the west took a hard hit. and that is the biggest reason the pew research study says

there's such a disparity in household wealth. take a look at this. according to the study, the median household income, or actually wealth among hispanics fell the most, 66% from 2005 to 2009. blake households suffered a 53% drop in network and white, 16%. the median wealth of hispanic households in 2009 was 6,325, 5,677 for african-american families, compared to around 113,000 as the median wealth for households of white. asian households also took a hit. they actually had a top ranking when compared to white households and they dropped from just over $168,000 in 2005 to around $78,000 in 2009. keep in mind, this is not income per say. it's household wealth, which means you take a family's assets, they house, cars,

savings and deduct any debt, loans, credit card debt, and that's how you get that number. so clearly, a lot of people hurting out there. brooke? >> we have some sound. we can hear from people themselves who are hurting. some hispanics say why they think their community is faring poorly. >> as opposed to other white families, they were not diverse in portfolios .. two thirds was put into the family home in terms of real estate. so it's no surprise, that going down with plummeting equities and with the erosion of sales prices all aloss the nation, we were hit the hardest. >> is the only reason? >> the job market is so bad. and hispanics really make up a lot of the job market when it comes to construction jobs.

being a homeowner, they put a lot of investment into their homes. when you think about the geographic demographics here, there's so many here in the west, here in california, nevada and arizona. that's why you see a lot of the disparity as well. a lot of african-americans faring poorly in this study. that's because the unemployment rate among african-americans is the worst at over 16%. >> coming up next, a 4-year-old son was killed by a drunk driver. he was charged but now the mother is facing jail time as well. stay right here.

this mother was convicted earlier this month of second degree vehicular homicide in the jaywalking accident that killed her 4-year-old son. she initially faced up to 36 months in prison. that's six times longer than the sentence served by the driver who killed her son. sunny hostin is back. nice to have you back. let me begin with this. we know the judge offered her the opportunity to seek a new trial. that's pretty unusual.

why would the judge offer to do that? >> it is unusual. my only guess is that this judge agrees with all of us this was a m miscarriage of justice here. this woman loses a 4-year-old child to a drunk driving incident. this was someone already convicted of thf crime two times before. someone who admittedly drank alcohol, and apparently was partially blind in one eye. that's the person that committed tease crimes. and then you put the mother who lost her trial -- child on trial? my question is who made the charging decision, brooke? who decided to bring this case forward. and does that person still have a job? if i were the head prosecutor in this office, that person would haven't a job anymore. >> i think we should back up and explain this detail.

this mother with her children, she was jaywalking. got off at a bus stop. her apartment complex was off the street. she would have walked a third of a nile down the road. that's one part of the story. did prosecutors ever really want her to get prison time? they've seen reports that they never actually wanted her to serve time. >> we see these reports, but you can choose as a prosecutor to bring a case or not bring the case. the prosecutors at sentencing said we're just going to let the judge determine what time she's going to get, if any. but i really think that's almost a copout because they chose to bring the case. as a prosecutor you want to bring a case that has merit and you want to bring a case, if it has jail time, you want that person to serve all that jail time. so i think it's a copout that we're hearing all these reports, prosecutors didn't really want her to get jail time because they prosecuted her on three

misdemeanor convictions. so i think she faced up to 36 months in prison. >> she did. six times that of the hit and run driver who killed her 4-year-old. she said she was trying to get home before dark. the crosswalk was a third of a mile away. she said the jury might not have understood what her situation was. she had no car, a single mom. she wasn't trying to break the law but wanted to get home. is that part of the story here? >> i think it is. i mean, is it about the haves and have notes? if you look into this story, you know this is a single mother, a college student, three children. she had been shopping for groceries and also for birthday party supplies. a good mother. and this crosswalk was very -- the crosswalk was very far away from the bus stop. and so many residents of this apartment complex had complained about the fact that the nearest crosswalk was so far away. i think certainly that picture wasn't painted for this jury

because evagain when you think that this woman lost her child and gets prosecuted as a result of it, really is, what i would say is a miscarriage of justice. >> i've covered stores like this, then they put the crosswalk in, right? >> exactly, exactly. >> sunny hostin, thank you so much. if it seems like cupid has given up on you, maybe it's time for a change. perhaps a move, to travel to some of these top cities for singles. so where is the hot spot for the single guys and gals? apparently number five is chicago. the windy city's bustling bar scene earned rave reviews among singles. coming in at number four, new york. from the east village to thepace in between. the number three best spot to be single in america, las vegas. vibrant night life. a lot of unattached ladies and

gentlem gentlemen. so where are the top two cities? do you live there? can you guess?

>> single and ready to ming snl you may want to consider making a move to one of these top-rated cities. here we go, rounding out the number two spot, pretty cool town, austin, texas. the live music capital of the world. and what could it be? the number one city to be single is voila, new orleans. thriving social scene, awesome spot for music as well. great food, great people. making it easy for people to look for love and find it in the big easy.

and for halloween die-hards. it's never too early to go costume shopping. casey anthony halloween mask. the mask on sale right now on ebay. kind of skaurr scary. theed by was ed bed b ed bed b $450. less than ten masks in existence. one way to get attention this halloween. and have you ever heard someone say they would die without their cell phone? well, this california man means it. after an alleged scuffle with gang members. he said the phone fell into a drain and he reportedly tried to go after it head first. couldn't get out. police were called and discovered two legs kicking and screaming. he was okay. looking for his cell phone down a drain. sitting there 40 minutes. i know your cell phone is

important, but come on now. "situation room" a couple of minutes away with wolf blitzer. i read your blog here in between commercial breaks. you make a good point. let's all hope in terms of these debt talks and negotiations that there are some talks happening behind closed doors. >> right now, maybe lower level, but not necessarily at the highest level between the president, the speaker, the senate majority leader. i don't see evidence that they're taking place at that level. staffers probably are talking amongst themselves. i think you'll be interested, by the way, thanks very much tweeting about my blog. it's gotten a lot of feedback. i think all of our viewers should be following @brookebcnn. you do a terrific job on at which timer. >> thank you very much. mr. plouff, who else? >> barbara mikulski, a liberal

democrat from maryland. lot at lot of liberal democrats, they're very worried if there aren't any tax increases on the wealthy, the millionaires, the billionaires, the corporate jet owners, the burden is going to fall on the middle class, the elderly. she's really worried about that. we also have a conservative republican, jim jordan of ohio who's broken ranks with the speaker john boehner over the latest plan. he says it's not a good plan and he also doesn't think they have the 217 votes necessary to pass it in the house of representatives. the bottom line right now, i hope it changes brooke, and you read my blog. this is a mess right now, but it's not just a mess. it's a mess with extraordinarily significant consequences for all of us. all of us right now. so we've got to watch this really closely. >> we are. we are. wolf, thank you so much. we'll see you in five minutes' time. but coming up next here, glenn beck's strange fascination and the controversial comments that has lots of you out there

talking. joe johns has been digging on this story all day long. he joins me next. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement insurance card, too. medicare is one of the great things about turning 65, but it doesn't cover everything. in fact, it only pays up to 80% of your part b expenses. if you're already on or eligible for medicare, call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of the medical expenses...

not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. put their trust in aarp medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral to see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost everyone, so you can find one that fits your needs and budget. with all medicare supplement plans, there are virtually no claim forms to fill out. plus you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare. and best of all, these plans are... the only medicare supplement plans endorsed by aarp.

when they told me these plans were endorsed by aarp... i had only one thing to say... sign me up. call the number on your screen now... and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. you'll get this free information kit... and guide to understanding medicare, to help you choose the plan that's right for you. as with all medicare supplement plans, you can keep your own doctor and hospital that accepts medicare, get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. he is no stranger to controversy, glenn beck. joe johns, what did he say? >> this time it's a little different. he was on the radio and he was talking about the political summer camp, which is affiliated with the ruling labor party in

norway where most of the victims in the norway massacre were killed and then he goes off on this tangent comparing this camp to the hitler youth. check out what he said. >> as the thing started to unfold and then there was a shooting at a political camp, chp sounds a little like, you know, the hitler youth or whatever. i mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? disturbing. >> now, he's gotten slammed for this. think of what he's doing. he's comparing victims of a horrible nasa kerr in norway to an anti-semitic paramilitary organization of the nazi party. and that's just one level. but on another level, he clearly suggested there's something wrong with a camp for young people that focuses on politics. that's, that's another thing that's just sort of a little bit beyond the pale, brook. >> also, joe john, there are a lot of youth camps in this

country that very much are called political, some of which are aligned with glenn beck himself. >> right, right. in case you didn't know it, and apparently there are some people out in the blog sphere who don't know it because they've been supporting what beck say. for the record, there are a bunch of programs that you can call political camps, some education educational, some nonpartisan. some aren't. but politically oriented camps are being organized in several states by the 9/12 project, an organization founded by glenn beck himself in 2009. the colorado 9/12 project hosted a so-called patriot camp for kids in grades 1 through 5 earlier this month featuring programs on, quote, our constitution, founding fathers, the values and principles that are the corner stones of our nation. in august, the danville, kentucky, chapter was hosting a vacation liberty school that organizers say will help your children understand where we came from, understand where we